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I think, forgiveness does not necessarily
need two people – the forgiver and the forgiven. One person is enough… and,
that can be either of the two. Yes, if I seek forgiveness from you and you
forgive me, it is an ideal situation. But, in real life, there are no ‘ideal’
situations. The only ideal is: if there is no forgiveness, there is no peace…
and, if there is no peace, Life is miserable. A hell! I was talking to a young man a while ago, who
was angry at his father. It seems, last night, a small argument lead to a
physical brawl between the father and the son. And, the young man was not in a
position to accept this behavior from his father. As I knew the father too very
well, I got father’s version as well… Even he said the same thing, “I am not
prepared to accept my son’s behaviour.” So, what now? Is it a dead-end? Is there
hope or no hope? There is hope… Because, there are no dead-ends
in life. For a sensible and teachable human being, all dead-ends are new
turning-points in life… Th…

Right now, my body, mind and heart – all three
yearn to rest. “Enough of aggression,” I hear them remind me, “Slow down… Keep
your tools down… Just yield.” Almost four to five hours in the morning,
today, I found myself in an aggressive mode – aggressive in the sense: I was
result oriented, my words were piercing, patience was on the edge… and I could
feel I was getting the work done from my students. Yes, there was that immediate
sense of achievement… But, when it was all over, I could also feel
the vacuum… the energy was all depleted… all my students gone and I was left
alone, here, to wonder: If there was another way of going about it… A way where
my energy would be conserved, words not as pricing as they were and patience
not as edgy as it was… So, now, when I have dropped my tools and aggression
and able to reflect, yes, I do feel, that there certainly was another way of
going about my work…. But, I see my heart smiling… “Hey…

“The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in
everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in
nothing.”
― Hannah
Whitall Smith

My problems and my suffering are always mine… They are ‘big’… till I see someone else’s problems and suffering
and realize how ‘small’ mine are. When I am stuck in my own ‘selfish’ world of
self-pity and blame, I can never see how small my problems and suffering are…
It is all about I, me and myself. Acceptance, I
know, is the key to end my suffering. But, acceptance doesn’t come to me easily.
When it does, it, invariably, comes via the long route called – ‘resistance’… Yes, when I am
grief-stricken, I cry and keep asking ‘Why me?’... I throw resistance… I remain
a victim. I have come to
realize, that the state of acceptance is a state of grace… Only prayerful and grateful hearts are blessed
with this state. Life has problems
and I am not alone in this… There are millions of people out there with problems
far worse than mine. So, there is no point in co…

In today’s
Bombay Times, there are these quotes from two of our Bollywood ladies. I am
sharing them here: “When you are patriotic, it comes out in the
most subtle ways. So, you don’t have to wait for that one particular day to celebrate
it. You can do it all year long. Wearing your patriotism on your sleeve isn’t
as important as truly feeling the emotion in your heart.” -Alia Bhatt - “One
should not be forced to exhibit any sort of patriotism, it has to be organic.
We can do a lot of things to show our love for our country, but let’s start from
keeping it clean. Treat it like your homes, even when we step out of our
houses, we must do that.” -Vidya Balan - Today, as we celebrate
the 69th Republic Day of our beloved nation, we have to sincerely
ask this question: “Are we truly patriotic? Do we truly love our country?” I have never believed
in the chest-thumping ways of either showing how religious I am or how patriotic…Yes,
I get goose bumps every time I listen to ‘Jana Gana Mana’, ‘Vande Mata…

“It is hard to befool a fool who has already been fooled
so many times” ― Munia Khan I did not intend to write a word on the
controversy surrounding Sanjay Leela Bansali’s film ‘Padmavati’, which, now has
been renamed as ‘Padmavat’. Having seen in the past many, many such
controversies – be it relating to a movie, play, book, song, painting or even a
tweet – I knew from the day one, that it was a deliberate act, stage-managed by
many self-interested parties… where the main objective is to divert the
attention of the masses from the most worrisome issues plaguing the nation… Yes, from my past experience, I knew it…
that, Bansali and his film just happened to be there in the crossfire… Just as the
school bus ferrying tender children and the innocent people and their hard-earned
property happened to be there… I don’t watch the TV debates about ‘Padmavat’…
When I do, I get a disgusting feeling in stomach! I find the anchors, spoke-persons
of Karni Sena and political parties completely deceit…

Ihave not done any research on it… But, I am
sure, more than ninety percent of songs in all the countries and languages of
this world are about romantic Love. Yes, all happy, sad and insane songs are
written and sung based on romantic Love… either as a winner or a loser in it! It means the feeling of romantic love is
universal! The story of a boy and a girl falling in
love is a very, very old story about growing up in Life. It dates back to the
earliest days of civilized society. All of us have gone through this phase of ‘attraction’.
Some of us, who have been conservative and cautious, chose not to commit…while
some of us, who have been more open and bold, chose to commit. So, whenever I see around me a young boy and
girl in love, I feel happy for them. Many of them are able to handle it
sensibly and many mess it up. Yes, it is not easy, at that age, to have a
smooth ride, all the way… The road is, often, bumpy… A lot of heat gets
generated along the way. It calls for attention, time, m…

“Everyone has his dayand some days last longer than others.” - Winston Churchill Through a sheer co-incidence, there are three
Hollywood movies being shown presently in Mumbai – ‘The Post’, ‘The Darkest
Hour’ and ‘12 Strong’. I wanted to watch all three of them, and
ended up watching two of them - ‘The Post’ and ‘The Darkest Hour’. Why was I keen to watch all these movies? Because, they are stories about one’s courage
of convictions… taking tough decisions when everyone around you is crippled
with doubt and fear… It’s about human greatness as described in Craig D.
Lounsbrough’s words: “The greatest
men stand on their values and pray on their knees.” ‘The Post’ (Directed by Steven Spielberg) is
the powerful story depicting one such moment in the life of Katharine Graham (Played by Meryl Streep), the
first female publisher of a major American newspaper -- The Washington Post and
her editor, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks). They
race to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up…

“People don't choose their calling, it chooses
them.”- Richard Leider Why do so many people run the Marathon? I have been asking this question
for several years.

Yesterday was the 15th edition of the Mumbai Marathon
(Tata Mumbai Marathon). About 44,407 men and women – young and old – took part
in it… And, why? Each one has his or
her own reason. And, that reason, invariably, is compelling. No one runs the Marathon
for a skin-deep reason… There is something very personal and bigger that calls
a man and a woman to run the Marathon… A dear friend of mine,
who lives in America, had posted a very vibrant picture of her after her Marathon
participation in her state in America. She is in her forties and has
college-going children. Last few years have been very traumatic for her with some
major family problems. She had been sharing some of these problems with me and
we were constantly in touch with each other. However, I did not hear from her for
some months… She seemed totally cut off from …

“The strongest love is the love that can
demonstrate its fragility.” ― Paulo Coelho

Many
things make me special… One of them is my vulnerability. If I have to put it in
simplest of words, being vulnerable means to open my heart before someone by
trusting him or her. When I do that, I make myself defenseless… I know it can
break my heart… I can get wounded in the process. If so, why don’t I,
always, guard myself… stonewall? I have tried to but
failed. Opening my heart, by
trusting a person I love, respect, care… yes, it comes easily to me. The main
outcome of my openness – vulnerability – is that, it makes me feel better… Light…
Loved and lovable… Strong. On the other hand, when
I stonewall my feelings, guard too much… don’t reveal my human side, it,
invariably makes me stone-like… The world calls some
heartless and some heartfelt… And, you know why the world does it so! Despite getting
wounded, let down and disillusioned, occasionally, due to my vulnerability, I
still choose to be less gua…

'Passionate about Life.'... That's how I see myself. For me, the term 'passion' has a special meaning. It is living life with its totality... With all its hues and confusions, with all its triumphs and defeats.
I consider myself as a little kid, still groping in the dark -- trying to find a way out of this great maze. Sometimes, I wonder: whether there is a way out at all? Whether the maze itself is the way?
Thus, as a kid awe-struck by this amazing mystery called LIFE, I have a lot to share with my fellow kids. I believe, it would be an exciting and fulfilling journey, each morning...
I am, indeed, looking forward to each dawn, with fresh eyes... And my fresh note to share...
Love,
GERALD D'CUNHA